Total solar eclipse sweeps across Indonesia

The narrow path of our Moon's shadow-and the total eclipse with it-stretched across 12 Indonesian provinces, crossed three times zones, and could be seen by about 40 million.

While Singapore experienced a partial eclipse, which darkened the skies, parts of Indonesia experienced a total eclipse.

Interestingly a few Indonesian tribes view the solar eclipse with apprehensions.

The airline said it rescheduled the flight to depart 25 minutes later, and it is expected to rendezvous with the eclipse's sweet spot almost 700 miles north of Honolulu.

While a total eclipse, which took place in Indonesia March 8, is where the sun is completely blocked by the moon.

"It was extraordinary, it is the most attractive of all the eclipses I have seen", he told AFP from Ternate.

For many in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, it was a spiritual experience, and large numbers flocked to mosques to say special prayers.

Birds appeared confused and disorientated as darkness fell again shortly after dawn. In Palembang, a Sumatran city of more than 1.4 million, thousands of residents from mothers carrying infants to old men gathered at its landmark Ampera bridge from well before dawn.

There was also disappointment for a group of six eclipse chasers who had travelled from Canada and the USA to Kalimantan. The moon blacked out the sun in totality over Indonesia's main western island of Sumatra, before moving eastwards across Sulawesi and Borneo, and then over to the Maluku Islands.

In Ternate City - one of the last cities in the eclipse's path - the local government late Tuesday set up about 600 tall kentongans - traditional drums made from bamboo - to be hit simultaneously when the eclipse occurred.

In Ternate, in the eastern Maluku Islands, thousands of people yelled "Glory to God" as the total eclipse became visible, while on the small Mentawai archipelago in the west of the country, hundreds cheered, prayed and hugged one another during the spectacle.

Those in Indonesia had the best vantage point.

Wright reported from Jakarta.

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Source: Total solar eclipse sweeps across Indonesia